Symbolism In Mirror Mirror

The universe is created for society to cherish all God’s creations; it could be anything to admiring nature to loving all animals. The expectations for the world are difficult to maintain, so unfortunately, society often leads to major destruction. There is unnecessary homicides, animal cruelty, toxic waste in the rivers and many more heart-wrenching actions that deteriorates the world. As a society, we have to turn a negative into a positive, but firstly, we have to change ourselves before we help others. Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”, exposes all of the humanity issues and suggests that we should fix the world by recognizing our flaws first. The theme of the song is about self-improvement and imagery, tone and repetition are the poetic devices that are used in the song.

This paper primarily explores Michael Jackson’s song, "man in the mirror." The song "man in the mirror" is inspirational about making a positive impact and personal redemption in the world. It was released in 1988. This catchy song tries to explain that changing the world is possible (Wallerstein 2). Many sociological concepts are displayed by Michael Jackson in the context of song’s lyrics. The band of the song tries to express their concerns with the actions and views of the world of the present day. Basically, the band reflects upon the world's realism as their question the mentality. This song is surrounded by the

The film “Snow White and the Huntsman” depicts the journey between the two main characters Snow White and Ravenna the evil Queen. Snow White, who is played by Kristen Stewart for majority of the film, has been locked in her slain father's castle for years. The character is imprisoned by her father’s evil second wife played by Charlize Theron, whose now queen. The Queen also lives in fear of losing of her young appearance and uses the blood of virgins to restore it. She tests the success of this with the well-known mirror on the wall. When the magic mirror reveals that Snow White is the source of her immortality, the queen seeks to kill Snow White. In “Snow White and the Huntsman” many patterns are used like the camera shots of the film, lighting and color. The pattern of camera shots is seen throughout the movie using close ups shots and wide range shots. For example, when Snow White fled from the castle and is chased by the Queen’s horsemen into the Dark Forest, there are close up shots of medieval like armor enforcing the idea that the film is not in modern day and the action of the film will be done with weapons like swords and axes. Close up shots of Snow White and Ravenna dictates who is in power and who is not. The shots show Snow White wearing peasant’s clothing, whereas the Queen wears jewelry, expensive clothes and a crown. Wide range shots are shown in film with vast plains, castles and battles’ giving a sense of realism to the setting. Lighting is another pattern

Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror, offers the multicultural history of the United States. This book provides the reader with the American experience of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Irish Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Jewish Americans. During this time, America demonstrated manifest destiny and the Master Narrative. They were led by the belief of “white purity,” which these ethnic groups threatened. America exhibited supremacy over all of these ethnic groups. Takaki’s work allows me to become aware of the history and the outcomes of manifest destiny and the Master Narrative.

Trina Schart Hyman reiterates this point in her analysis of story, particularly in examining the Queen, where the ?only power was her beauty. She didn?t think about [Snow White] as a person. She hated only what Snow White symbolized, which was youth and the power and beauty of youth? (Haase, 2003).

Throughout history, dominant ideologies have often clashed with other ideologies, causing contradictions. In Chapter 7 of A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki writes about the contradictions found in ideologies in US history, especially those concerning the Mexicans in Texas and California. In the 1800s, the market revolution ran the country. As new inventions, such as the cotton gin, were introduced, Americans sought to make raw goods faster and cheaper. As a result, they looked for cheap labor and more land. Believing in the Manifest Destiny, they looked westward, where there was an abundance of land. In moving west, the Americans encountered Mexicans that had recently become Americans due to the change in the Mexican-American border. This

Snow White is a fairytale that never gets old. Countless young children know the tale by heart: A young, beautiful girl tries to live a happy life while her mother tries to kill her due to Snow White being prettier than her. Snow White, though, has a much more profound, unexploited history. There are many versions of this story that not a lot of people read. Two texts that were particularly fascinating were Gold Tree and Silver Tree as well as Nourie Hadig. In Gold Tree and Silver Tree, Silver Tree becomes jealous with Gold Tree’s beauty and tries to kill her newlywed daughter, but Gold Tree made a new friend, and she helped take care of Silver Tree. In Nourie Hadig, Nourie is left in the forest by her father because her mother wants to kill her. There, she takes care of a prince all the while her mother is trying to find her. Both these stories have amazing similarities and striking differences, but the similarities significantly outweigh the differences. The stories are astonishingly similar many ways, but their characters are the most standout thing about these stories. While these figures have their differences, the similarities are much more eye-catching. These characters are similar because their personalities follow a similar rhythm throughout the stories and their actions also stay the same.

When learning information about important facts, dates, and the influential people who made up U.S. history, I do not remember learning much of anything regarding the Irish, Chinese, or Japanese. Well, except for Pearl Harbor and the U.S. retaliating against Japan by dropping atomic bombs. I definitely learned that people from around the world immigrated by boat across vast amounts of ocean for a chance to thrive in the land of freedom called America. I learned that millions of people entered through Ellis Island in the late nineteenth century, looking upon the Statue of Liberty, in hopes of finding their right to life, liberty, and happiness. I learned that the majority of these people were stricken of their identities and provided new American names that were easier to pronounce. I did not however, learn about the great discrimination and hardship that these people suffered at the hands of white Americans. The major theme presented is labor discrimination, unequal and unfair pay, long hours, and harsh working and living environments in regards to the Mexican Americans, Chinese, and Japanese. Takaki (2008) paints a vivid picture of discrimination and suffering of the people known as the “others” living and working in the multicultural “melting pot” United States, in his book A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America.

"Man in the Mirror" was written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and co-produced by Michael Jackson, and released from the album Bad on August 31,1987 and released as a single January 16,1988 (YouTube). Siedah Garrett had an idea about a man looking in a mirror in her head for quite some time and took her ideas to her writing partner Glen Ballard. Once Garrett shared her lyric ideas, Ballard added some soulful vocals to help make the song become more powerful, which helped make the lyrics even stronger. The straightforward lyrics about making a change to yourself first caught Michael Jackson’s attention for his album Bad he was working on. “His chemistry with Garrett was so strong that he invited her to duet with him on another Bad single” (Yahoo! Music). The uplifting lyrics of making a change to yourself first, with the combination of Michael Jackson’s voice took off on the charts in no time. “Even though it wasn't a song he wrote himself, it was a message that was strongly identified with him and reflective of his own philosophies, as demonstrated through his actions and expressed in some of his own lyrics” (YouTube). “Man in the Mirror” became a world-wide hit in the late 80’s helping to inspire people to make a change within themselves and to help others.

Snow White is a fairy-tale known by many generations; it is a beloved Disney movie, and a princess favoured by many kids. But did you know the fairy-tale was made to teach young children, especially little girls, their duties in life? It also values beauty over knowledge, portrays women to be naive and incompetent, and assumes that women cannot understand anything other than common household chores. Throughout this criticism, I will be using the feminist lens to analyze the fairy-tale, Snow White, through the perspective of a feminist.

Snow White’s predominant attributes are her dark hair, big brown eyes, red lips and slim body. Her signature dress with blue top and yellow skirt underlines her graceful movements while walking and dancing. The bright red hair ribbon and the puffed sleeves match her wide-eyed look and point out her innocence. Moreover, this innocent look, gentleness and immaturity become apparent in every scene of the film. The timbre of her voice is fairly high-pitched and stressing and inflection are those of a young child. This stands in contrast to her romantic longings for the prince when they first meet. Allan finds that Snow White’s sexuality can be seen as “ambiguous because although she is seen as a child … she also has sexually longings for the prince” (39). Evidence can be found in the queen’s envious and jealous reaction when she learns of the first meeting between the prince and Snow White.

The queen had a magical mirror that always told her she was the fairest of the land until her stepdaughter turned seven. This made the queen envy Snow White, as she was just above her in the noble classes, and therefore refused to be below her in any shape or form. Furthermore, colonialist work is noticed when Snow White lived with the seven dwarfs and was continually visited by her evil stepmother. The dwarfs lived alone in the words clearly separated form society, and as an act of western domination, the queen often trespassed on their land in attempt to kill Snow White. In addition, problematic post-colonial identity is presented in the queens disguise as it pulled on Snow Whites heart strings forcing her to open the door, putting herself in harms way. This shows social classes and ones appearance is strongly regarded when one decides if someone nearby is of aid or misfortune.

“Man in the Mirror” is about a man who believes that only by changing himself will he be able to change the world. The main focus of the song is a man’s struggle to improve himself morally after witnessing his inability to impact the lives of those in need. Michael Jackson reflects on how the world around him is suffering while he lives a life of comfort, and the guilt triggers his decision to change himself so that he can eventually help the world. . The song raises up questions such as,“What purpose does an individual serve in a community? How can we bring about positive changes to the world? How can one person make a major impact in the world? “Man in the Mirror” sends a very universal message, basically telling the world to improve themselves individually so that the whole improves as a result. The discussion will focus more on the symbolical lyrics because there is a lot of straightforward vocabulary in each verse.

Staying true to the traditional tale, the evil queen is in search of eternal youth and beauty and becomes enraged when the magic mirror informs her that Snow White can replace her as “fairest of them all”. The evil queen orders the Huntsman to find Snow White who has escaped her imprisonment from the confines of the castle and dark kingdom. Enthralled by Snow Whites charm and beauty, the Huntsman instead takes on the role of her protector and warrior mentor. Much of the movie is the Huntsman and Snow White’s journey to escape the evil queen and find an army to battle the evil queen to reinstate Snow White to her rightful place on the throne. Don’t worry the beloved dwarfs are a part of this version, though a little rough around the edges, much to the dismay of you Disney fans. Deviating from the original tale, the love interest has been changed. Although, the movie does include a Prince Charming, it is the ruggedly handsome Huntsman who is meant to wake Snow White with his kiss.

Over the years, Snow White’s story has been told in numerous different versions then its original version in 1812 by the Grimm Brothers. The main basis of the story has remained the same. Only a few minor tweaks to the story have changed. The three versions of the story that are going to be analyzed are the original story “Little Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Disney, and “Mirror, Mirror” by Disney also. They each were created in very different times and the original story has changed over the years to appeal to the audience of that time. No matter how many versions there are Snow White is considered, one of the most cherished fairy tales of all time. They each use different methods to get their